Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2018

SAFETY COMPLIANCE HDT JANUARY 2018 34 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM Seidl often suggests to shippers and receivers that they modify their dock operations to make it easier for both drivers and carriers to manage hours of service given the constrictions created by running with ELDs He notes that for example by posting signs that prohibit certain access points to a yard the shipper would enable a driver to use the yard moves exception allowed by the ELD rule Another way they could help out would be by allowing a trailer to remain in the yard during a long wait period so the driver could use the personal conveyance option to drive his tractor to a nearby truckstop to take a scheduled break The anti coercion rule was mandated by Congress back in 2014 in response to long standing driver concerns that carriers and others are often indifferent to the operational restrictions imposed by federal safety rules according to FMCSA During the rulemaking process the agency noted that it heard from drivers who reported having been pressured to violate regulations with implicit or explicit threats of job termination denial of subsequent trips or loads reduced pay forfeiture of favorable work hours or transportation jobs or other direct retaliations fines of up to 16000 for each offense on any motor carrier shipper receiver or transportation intermediary that coerces a driver to violate the regulations listed in the definition of coercion Seidl says that in educating drivers and others about how all this works its crucial to get across that for a complaint to stick what a shipper receiver or broker is demanding must meet the FMCSA threshold of being a threat of the loss of work or of an opportunity to work He also points out that while the anti coercion rule predates the ELD mandate the latter rule puts teeth into the former Thats because electronic logs can provide proof of attempted coercion by a shipper receiver or broker And they can allow carriers to verify wait times and so justify hitting shipper receivers with detention charges One way a shipper can help out a driver is by allowing a trailer to sit in the yard during a long wait period so the driver can use the personal conveyance option to drive just his tractor to a nearby truckstop for a scheduled break SAFETY SHORTS 2016 highway deaths About 2000 more people died in transportation accidents in 2016 than in 2015 according to the National Transportation Safety Board Of the 37461 highway fatalities 722 were in medium and heavy trucks or about 2 That compares to 665 in 2015 again just under 2 of the 35485 highway fatalities Operation Safe Driver Week Results from the 2017 Operation Safe Driver Week show nearly double the amount of citations handed out to commercial drivers compared to 2016 according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance CVSA says 38878 citations and warnings were issued to CMV drivers compared to 20648 last year Most of these citations were for state and local moving violations making up 84 of the total This is up as well from 2016 when state and local violations made up slightly more than half of citations and warnings at 57 After state and local moving violations speeding was the second most common violation followed by failing to use a seat belt failing to obey traffic control devices and using a cell phone Pro Tread training app Instructional Technologies Inc introduced the new Pro Tread Mobile App Drivers and warehouse employees with mobile devices can access assigned courses and available libraries using the same login used for Pro Tread online training The app is included free with Pro Tread accounts that use the Sentix platform ITIs recently introduced Learning Management System for scheduling tracking verifying and managing training Arizona targets wrong way drivers The Arizona Department of Transportation has added large wrong way signs along Interstate 17 on bridges and other structures as part of its project to help prevent wrong way drivers The signs are being placed along a 15 mile stretch of highway between the Interstate 10 interchange and Loop 101 Early this year ADOT plans to install a wrong way detection and warning system that uses thermal cameras to detect and warn motorists A driver can object on the spot to being told to violate HOS rules John Seidl PHOTO ISTOCKPHOTO COM BLONDSTEVE

View the Covers and the Table of Contents pages from every issue of this publication, all gathered together for easy browsing. Just flip pages and zoom as you normally do to see each issue's Cover and Table of Contents, then follow links directly to interesting content.